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The Battle (episode)
Captain Picard is reunited with his old ship, the Stargazer, by a Ferengi who tries to kill him for killing his son. Summary In response to an order from Starfleet, the ''Enterprise'' has been sent to the Xendi Sabu system to rendezvous with a Ferengi Alliance vessel. For three days there has been no message from the Ferengi except "Stand by, Enterprise". Bok]] Dr. Crusher comes to see Picard in his quarters, where he complains of feeling fatigued and having a headache. She examines him and finds nothing wrong, but tells him to come to sickbay all the same. Just then the Ferengi hail the Enterprise. Picard returns to the bridge and talks with the Ferengi captain, DaiMon Bok. Bok claims to know Picard, but Picard doesn’t recognize Bok at all. He wants to meet Picard in person, so despite being wary of his intentions, Picard agrees to meet him aboard the Enterprise. Picard goes to Sickbay where Crusher examines him again, but fails to find any medical reason for his headaches. She gives him a painkiller for the time being. He returns to the bridge, where Wesley arrives and tells La Forge that when he was boosting the range of the long-range sensors, he detected a ship approaching. Then Geordi detects it as well. It’s an unidentified ''Constellation'' class starship, which is not responding to hails. The time arrives for the Ferengi to beam over and three of them materialise on the bridge; Bok and two of his officers. Bok tells Picard that the starship is under their control and is a gift to honor the "hero of Maxia", Captain Picard. Picard realises they are referring to an incident that took place nine years ago while he commanded the ''USS Stargazer''. Travelling through the Maxia Zeta system, they were attacked by an unknown vessel, which Picard was forced to destroy. It turns out that the vessel was Ferengi. Picard is then hit by another headache, before ordering La Forge to zoom in on the approaching starship. It is the Stargazer, which the Ferengi found adrift, and are now giving to Picard. Bok says it will be a gift, free of charge, which his subordinates don’t like. Later in the observation lounge, Picard tells the crew about the battle. They had been travelling at warp 2 through the Maxia Zeta system when they were fired upon by an unidentified starship, damaging their shields. Then Picard asks Vigo to raise the shields. This surprises the crew, before Picard realises what he’s said. He continues with the story, saying he then performed what is now known as the Picard Maneuver: he jumped to high warp, making it appear to the Ferengi that the Stargazer was in two places at once. He was then able to destroy the Ferengi vessel, but was forced to abandon ship. Data, Yar, Worf and La Forge beam over to inspect the Stargazer. Geordi gets the emergency power going, and as everything looks all right, Picard then beams over. He goes to look at his old cabin, and is going through his things when he suddenly gets another headache. He grabs his head and falls back in agony. Amongst his things in an old chest, a pink sphere glows. Bok is controlling it aboard the Ferengi vessel. Dr. Crusher passes and sees Picard in pain. She brings him back to the Enterprise, telling him that his belongings will be beamed over later. The Enterprise tractors the Stargazer. Riker tells Picard that Starfleet is sending a tug to bring it to Xendi Starbase 9, before Picard goes to his quarters for a rest. When he starts to dream, he dreams about the battle. Meanwhile in the ready room, Data shows Riker a personal log that Picard recorded, claiming that he attacked the Ferengi vessel without provocation. When he shows Picard the log, Picard denies making the entry, but tells Riker he has to report his findings to Starfleet. Then Picard’s headache returns. He goes back to his quarters, before Riker contacts Kazago, Bok's first officer, asking if he finds it odd that Bok is returning the Stargazer to Starfleet. Picard is in his quarters when Crusher arrives. He tells her the headache is worsening, and he is worrying about the battle and whether he did the right thing. Crusher gives him a sedative and puts him to bed. He starts to dream about the battle again and relives it, seeing the crew and the bridge. Bok laughs aboard his own ship as he manipulates a matching sphere to the one in Picard's chest. Data is informing Riker that the log is a forgery, when Picard enters. Crusher follows soon after and is surprised to see the captain up and about. He dismisses everyone except Riker, whom he tells to disengage the tractor beam. In Sickbay, Dr. Crusher is discussing the headaches with Troi when Wesley enters. He tells her that he noticed the captain’s brain patterns were the same as low intensity transmissions detected coming from the Ferengi ship. They report this to Riker, who checks on Picard’s location and finds out he has beamed onto the Stargazer. Aboard the Stargazer, Bok meets Picard and raises the ship’s shields. He is carrying his pink sphere, and tells Picard that his son was in command of the ship Picard destroyed. He has spent years devising a suitable revenge, and bought the two spheres for his entire life savings. He leaves the sphere on the bridge and beams back onto his own vessel. Aboard the Enterprise, the sphere in Picard’s quarters has been found, and as the Stargazer turns to attack them, Riker realises that the sphere is being used to influence the captain’s thoughts. He hails Kazago, who recognizes the sphere as a "thought maker", a device that is forbidden. Then Captain Picard comes on the viewscreen. He doesn’t recognize Riker. Instead he is reliving the old battle. He sees the crew around him and gives them commands, thinking the Enterprise is the unknown vessel. Riker realises that he is going to use the Picard Maneuver, so he orders Data to come up with a defence. Then Kazago hails, and tells Riker that Bok has been removed from command for his part in this "unprofitable venture". Data comes up with a defence which involves detecting the correct ship by noting the compression of gas in space and then immobilising the Stargazer with the tractor beam. The defence works, and Riker hails Picard. He manages to convince Picard to destroy the sphere with his phaser, at which point Picard returns to normal. He then beams over to the Enterprise, leaving the dead to rest in peace. Log Entries * Captain's log, USS Stargazer * Captain's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), 2364 Memorable Quotes "Let the dead rest, and the past remain the past." : - Picard "As you hew-mon's say, ''I'm all ears." : - '''Kazago', conferring with Riker. Background Information * The bridge of the Stargazer is a redress of the Enterprise's Battle bridge from "Encounter at Farpoint" (which in turn, was a redress of the movie Enterprise bridge). * The headrest navigator's chair on the Stargazer bridge mysteriously flips halfway through the episode. * The Stargazer was originally a Constitution class starship and would have reused the refit Enterprise model from the first four Star Trek movies. However, it was decided after the episode was filmed to change it from a "Constitution class" starship to the similar sounding "Constellation class" cruiser. (The reason being that when LeVar Burton dubbed over the line, the new dialogue would closely match his lip-movements on screen. Data also mentions the ship's class by name, when reading from the dedication plaque, but his back is turned to the camera.) * As Dr. Crusher enters Picard's ready room to present the results of Picard's brain scan, she uncharacteristically addresses Riker as "number one". Links and References Main Cast *Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard *Jonathan Frakes as William Riker *LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge *Denise Crosby as Natasha Yar *Michael Dorn as Worf *Gates McFadden as Beverly Crusher *Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi *Brent Spiner as Data *Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher Guest Stars *Frank Corsentino as Bok *Doug Warhit as Kazago *Robert Towers as Rata Co-Stars ;[[USS Stargazer personnel|USS Stargazer personnel]] *Helmswoman (uncredited) *Navigator (uncredited) *Command division crewman (uncredited) References 2355; Battle of Maxia; Betazoid; checksum; ''Constellation''-class; common cold; computer science; Federation tug; Maxia Zeta system; Picard Maneuver; Stargazer shuttlecraft; ''Stargazer'', USS; thought maker; Vigo; Xendi Sabu system; Xendi Starbase 9 Battle, The de:Die Schlacht von Maxia es:The Battle fr:The Battle nl:The Battle